Rather Than Watching

I once told my dad that I wanted to be successful and his response was, “How do you define success?”

For a split second, that seems the easiest question in the world to answer, doesn’t it? Money equals success. Power equals success. Fame equals success. Or does it? When I first started Earthly Affair, my short term definition of success was to stop working for the man. I was going to leave those suckers behind and answer to the coolest boss in the world - ME! I would sleep until ten, sip Martini’s and chat with Martha (as in Martha Stewart) at noon, crank out a few awesome designs whenever I damn well felt like it, and then party in the A-T-L with the hubs by night.

Focusing on environmentally friendly wedding invitations, I found a niche that needed to be filled and in a resolve that surprised even myself, I confidently announced to my fiance (now husband) that creating my own business was something I had to do. So I worked. I worked hard. Shleppin’ it home from the day job only to work a few more hours every evening. Motivation came easier on the days I had to deal with another ridiculous comment from my boss. (In retrospect, I believe he had some sort of auditory processing disorder, but if I had to hear the word, “TITious” - not a joke, people - one more time, I was going to crack.) The blog was born in July of 2007 and Earthly Affair launched a boutique website in January of 2008. And by some odd moment of perfect alignment in the universe, the Milky Way must have decided to send me down some magic dust, because you know what!? It freakin’ worked! About two months and 40 orders later, I quit my job. Resignation letter = SUCCESS!

So minus the Martha Stewart part (still waitin’ on that call Martha!), life was pretty nice. I made decent money and didn’t have to answer to anyone. In addition to the sleeping in and going out though, there were customers that needed attending to, e-mails to be answered, marketing ideas to be hashed out, bills to be paid, bookkeeping to be done, projects to be managed, orders to be printed, orders to be shipped, articles to be written, photography that needed to be taken, etc… Some weeks I worked 25 hours, some weeks I worked 60 hours. Being a one man band isn’t always easy, but I learned so much, loved every minute of it, and more importantly I gained the confidence I will need to start my next venture (the plan for now is to hone my craft as an illustrator).

While I absolutely loved having my own business, I’ve decided to pass the Earthly Affair torch on and call it quits for a while. While money is nice, it’s not worth it when it comes at the expense of something priceless.* Ultimately, the birth of my baby girl changed my definition of success. Success is waking up with a loving husband by my side. Success is having family and friends that care about you. And success is spending time with those little beings we call offspring. I think I hit the jackpot.

*footnoting my own stuff here: I am so, so fortunate and grateful to my husband for not only being the sole breadwinner now, but for always supporting me.